


in your arms

by orphan_account



Category: All American (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, Mutual Pining, Romance, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25551154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: And something about the way he’s looking at her, never breaking her gaze, his tone firm but still reassuring, let’s her know that he was telling the truth. She feels her heart thrashing against her chest as his words still whirred around her brain. She feels a smothering warmth throng throughout the crevasses of her body, flushing from her cheeks to the tip of her ears when his eyes flickered down to her lips. Her breath hitches, catching in the back of her throat.—jordan and simone seek solace within each other; unresolved feelings get revealed.
Relationships: Jordan Baker & Simone Hicks, Jordan Baker/Simone Hicks
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	in your arms

**Author's Note:**

> it’s a travesty that there aren’t many jimone fics :( they’re really cute together and i love them as a pairing so i might continue to write for them! this is obviously set at the very beginning of season 2 (just in case there’s any confusion)

Jordan stood in the corner of the overly loitered living room, the loud staccato of rap music ricocheted through the speakers as the crowd of inebriated teenagers drunkingly sang along in tandem with the words, gyrating and taking hefty swigs out of their red solo cups filled to the rim with lukewarm beer.

Normally, at a scene like this, Jordan would’ve been in the center indulging in milling of girls that were currently here and chugging back bottles of beer. It was a celebration party after all, congratulating them on their win against Thornberry Academy — the prestigious private school they’d been relentlessly practicing to beat since they learned of their entrance into the playoff game.

But Jordan’s mood was less than effervescent, transitioning into a dull ennui. He stood there pouting in the corner like a petulant child as he reminisced on his performance during tonight’s game. Albeit the team was successful in the defeat in the playoffs, the current situation with his parents and his mother still trying to muster the courage to move forward after learning of her husband’s infidelity was distracting for Jordan. 

He managed to placate a insouciant facade when it came to the ordeal of his father’s indiscretions with Grace, but in actuality the pain was discretely gnawing at him. He hated hearing his mother’s silent cries, seeing her eyes puffy and red from hours of crying and then placating a feeble smile on her face whenever she saw them to hide the pain that she was feeling. Jordan knew that with his father currently living with his grandfather that he was supposed to be the man of the house in substitution, but it was hard trying to be the comfort for Olivia and his mother when he was struggling with his conflicting emotions himself.

He was so pissed off at his father for hurting his mother and for lying all these years, pretending like he was this perfect husband. 

“Dude, why’re you sulking over here in the corner?” A drunken JJ inquired as he stumbled towards Jordan, beer spills from his cup as he clumsily approached his friend. Jordan’s mouth jutted in a downward frown at the strong stench of liquor and cigarettes wafting from JJ’s clothing.

Jordan half shrugged before bringing the cup to his mouth and taking a large swig of the frothy beverage. He really wasn’t in the mood to discuss his emotions especially at a party and especially with JJ. Jordan loved his friend but JJ wasn’t someone he would refer to as someone he could confide in. JJ was more about partying, girls, and football everything else was moot. Jordan couldn’t blame him though because at one point, his life consisted primarily of those three things as well. 

“I’m just not really feeling this party tonight.” He replies truthfully, glancing around as he spectates the scene around him.

JJ furrowed a confused brow as he placed his hand on Jordan’s forehead, “You feeling okay, bro?” He asked, much to Jordan’s dismay who quickly swatted JJ’s hand away.

“Yes. I just have a lot on my mind and being here at this party is the last place I want to be right now.” Jordan hates that his sulking mood was ruining JJ’s night. They were supposed to be celebrating but all he was doing was succumbing to his solemnity. “I’m gonna go.” He states, concluding that he’d rather wallow in his misery in private than in public, bringing everyone’s mood down. 

“Do you need me to–”

“Nah,” Jordan shakes his head in refute, declining JJ’s offer. “You stay here and have fun with that brunette who’s been eyeing you for the past ten minutes.” Jordan says, clasping a hand on JJ’s shoulder as he nudged his chin in the direction of the cute brunette girl that was standing athwart from them, dressed in an extremely tight red dress. She smiled slyly upon catching their gaze and brought her hand up, gesturing for JJ to join her. 

“You sure, bro?” JJ asked, wanting to be certain.

“Yes, dude, go!” Jordan rolls his eyes as he pushes JJ in the direction of the mystery girl. Jordan smiled, slightly shaking his head in amusement as he watched his friend coquettishly working his charm on her. He bidded JJ with a parting farewell head nod before finally making his egress.   
  
Shoving his way through the crowd of gyrating teenagers, he manages to stumble his way to the front door. He was at the door, hand on the knob preparing to pull it open when a familiar face catches his attention in his peripheral vision. Glancing over his shoulder, he sees her walking through the hallway heading in the direction of the bathroom. His curiosity piqued when he saw her gingerly wiping tears from her face. 

Jordan narrowed a furrowed brow as he stood there, biting on his inner cheek in contemplation. His apprehension got the better of him and next thing he knows, he’s walking up the spiral staircase following the direction of which she was headed in earlier. 

Sauntering through the corridor, he peeks his head in every room trying to seek her out. When he reaches a secluded room in the far corner, he approaches the door rapting a gentle knock on it as he waited for a response.   
  
“Someone’s in here!” He hears her stuffy voice clamor from the other side of the door. She huffs an irritated sigh and inwardly curses underneath her breath when Jordan knocks on the door again. He hears the sound of her gait ascending as she was now approaching the door. 

“I already told you someone’s in–” She began, evidential annoyance and abhor lilt heavily in her voice. But her hastily anger subsides when she opens the door and sees Jordan standing there on the other side. Her countenance visibly shifts, transforming into a softened one. “Jordan,” She says, sniffling lowly and quickly wiping the remnants of her tears away with the back of her hand.   
  
“What are you doing here?” She asks, albeit he already knows that she’s aware that this was a team celebration party for tonight’s game. He soon realizes she meant what he’s doing _here_ , in the empty room where she was hiding in. 

Casually sliding his hands in the front pockets of his slacks, Jordan shrugs. “I was leaving then I saw you and you looked upset. I wanted to see if you were okay,” He answers truthfully, the confession causes Simone to abashedly fluster though she still feels a residual chagrin at the thought of him seeing her crying.   
  
She nods and placates a feeble smile. “Yeah, I’m okay.” She attempts to reassure him but they both know that it’s a lie. Looking over his shoulder his eyes wander around the lively party that didn’t seem like it would come to an end anytime soon. Jordan turns back around to face Simone. 

“Do you need a ride home?” He offers, gauging for her reaction while he waited for her response. 

Simone’s mouth parted open preparing to give her response until she closed it back shut after a brief moment of hesitation. Jordan offered her an reassuring, amicable smile. “It’s cool. I told you I was already leaving anyway, I don’t mind giving you a ride. Besides you look like you want to be at this party just as much as I do.” He jokes, hoping that it would ease her trepidation.   
  
She chortles blithely before nodding her head in acceptance. “Okay.”   
__

Simone’s perched in the passenger seat of Jordan’s car, the soft hymn of the radio plays in the background as they ride in a comfortable silence. Albeit her body’s slightly turned as she looks out the window, in the reflection she could see Jordan sneakily glancing over at her. 

Simone turns around in the seat and raises a questioning brow, waiting for him to speak. When he doesn’t take an initiative in doing so, she speaks first. “I saw you staring at me through the window. It looked like you wanted to ask me something?” 

The pallor of Jordan’s cheeks flushes in chagrin when he realizes that she’d caught him staring at her. He harrumphs softly as he bites down on his bottom lip. He shrugs a shoulder, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as he averts his eyes back towards the road ahead of him. 

Instead of asking what he was initially pondering, he diverts the topic of conversation when he pulls into the drive-thru of an ice cream shop. “Cookies and cream, right?” He asks, remembering her favorite ice cream flavor.   
  
Simone blinks, slightly aghast, that he remembered such a small detail about her. She told him once after one of their post-coitus trysts that it was her favorite. She didn’t think that he was listening to her, let alone that he stored it into his recollective memory. 

“Yeah.”   
  
Jordan purchased two ice creams; one waffle cone with two scoops of cookies and cream for Simone, and rocky road in a cup for him. He pulled into a secluded area of the parking lot so they could eat their delicious treats. 

“Thanks for the ride and the ice cream.” Simone states in gratitude.   
  
Jordan shrugs a shoulder half-heartedly, “It’s no problem. You looked like you were having a miserable time there like I was.” He replies, scooping a portion of his creamy treat onto his spoon before shoveling it inside of his mouth. The cold, delicious, saccharine treat eases down his throat. “So, why were you in a room crying anyway?” 

At his sudden inquiry, Simone mood transitions into a somber solemnity. “It’s embarrassing but I saw Dane tonight making out with some girl.” She admits truthfully, causing Jordan to raise a curious brow. He was unaware that they’d gotten back together. 

Almost as if she was reading his mind, Simone further elaborated. “We got back together a little while after–” She flushes, quickly averting her eyes away from Jordan’s smothering gaze as she clears her throat. “But then I broke up with him because it was the same relentless arguments like before and I didn’t want to be with anyone who made me feel like shit, you know?” Jordan gives a nod, the nonverbal gestural assures her that he was attentively listening.   
  
Simone scoffs as she shakes her head. “I moved on from him so I don’t know why seeing him with another girl made me so upset. I feel so stupid crying over him.”

The car’s silent for a while and for a brief moment, Simone inwardly pondered if Jordan thought she was just as pathetic for crying over Dane as she felt but her worries were soon subsided when Jordan looked over at her and states, “It’s always hard letting go someone you were with for so long. It’s like losing apart of yourself. Even though you broke up with him, you still loved him and probably still do that feeling isn’t just gonna magically go away because you two aren’t together anymore.” 

Simone sat there quietly, surprised by his profound intelligence. But it wasn’t that hard for Jordan to understand Simone’s current conflicting emotions because he knew that her situation was similar to his mother’s. There have been numerous nights where he was caught her crying softly in her bedroom, or caught a quick glimpse of her puffy red eyes. It didn’t take a therapist to know that his mom was still very much struggling to move forward after learning of her husband’s infidelity.   
  
“Wow,” She chuckles lowly, “Who knew that Jordan Baker was such a intellectual on feelings?” She playfully jokes, the teasing quip causes Jordan to roll his eyes and smile good naturedly. 

Simone licks at the delicious ice cream swirl on her cone as she chances a look over at Jordan. “So, I told you why I had a shitty night what’s your reason? Because you should’ve been celebrating instead of sitting here with me.” The smile from Jordan’s mouth transformed into a forlorn frown. He mindlessly prodded his ice cream with his spoon as he sat there in silence.   
  
Normally, he was apprehensive about revealing his emotions and opening up about his personal life. He tended his to shelter his feelings and preferred to keep everything inside, much to his avail. But it was easy to talk to Simone. He found himself wanting to talk to her about all of the personal things, about his feelings. It was rare that he ever felt that way with anyone. Maybe it was because of their history or because she was the first girl that ever asked him about how he was feeling.   
  
Jordan’s eyes averted downward at the half-empty carton of ice cream as he chewed numbly on his inner cheek. “It’s some stuff with my dad. He cheated on my mom, we found out a few weeks ago and–” He shakes his head in disbelief as anger begins to arise within him. “My mom has been having a hard time. So have I, I guess. I mean I’ve been doing everything I can to get my mind off of what he did to her; partying, hooking up with girls, but nothings working. I just keep remember him doing that to her, to our family and I’m so pissed at him for fooling us for all these years making us believe that he was such this amazing husband and father. But I don’t know why I’m complaining though. It’s my mother who has it the hardest.”   
  
“Jordan,” Simone sighs, setting the ice cream cone aside so that she could rest her hand on top of his in comfort. “You’re allowed to be hurt. Sure, your pain is different from your mom’s but you were both hurt by the same person. It’s okay to be upset and angry.” She states with a intent sincerity as she looks into his eyes. 

Jordan stares back at her with equal intensity, holding her unwavering gaze. Simone feels a warmth spreading throughout her body under the gauze of his smothering scrutiny. She gasps a soft breath when she sees his eyes flicker from her eyes down to the outline of her lips. Vivid memories of their prior hookup flashes into her mind. 

Simone swallows thickly, starting to pull her hand away from its position of where it was still resting on top of his until Jordan grabbed her wrist steadying her in place. “Wait,” He whispers, the sound of his voice entices her to look back to into his eyes meeting his softened gaze.   
  
She _knows_ that look of desperate need and want, having been on the receiving end of it once. The way his eyes were lulled over in lust as he looked at her, the way his thumb caressed gentle strokes against the skin of her knuckles—everything about this situation seemed so familiar. 

“Why didn’t you ever call back?” The sudden inquiry causes her to blink a confused look of perplexity at him. 

“What?” 

“After that night of JJ’s party when we hooked up. I tried calling you the next day and you never returned any of my calls. Then it seemed as if you were avoiding me at school because I never saw you around anymore.” He confesses and Simone recoils as she feels guilt suddenly gnawing at her.   
  
Truthfully, she did ignore him after their sultry hookup. While she did enjoy the time they shared together, Simone thought it was best to distance herself from Jordan for her own protection. She knew that it was just another random hookup for him. She didn’t want to be that girl that started to develop feelings after one foolish night. But she did. She didn’t ever tell him about these conflicting emotions because she assumed that he viewed their hookup as something meaningless. 

She didn’t want to get herself hurt by confessing her feelings for someone who’s feelings weren’t reciprocated. So she went back to Dane and tried to forget about Jordan. 

“I didn’t think that you wanted that, _me_.” She mutters lowly under her breath, abashedly lowering her eyes as she looks at her hand that was folded on top of her lap. “I wanted to talk to you, but then I saw you and Ripley together and she was being all flirty with you and-” She shrugged. 

This time it was Jordan who scoffs incredulously at her absurd confession. He furrows a brow in perplexity, inwardly pondering why she would ever think that he would trivialize their hookup to something meaningless and why she would think that he wouldn’t want her. 

He shifts in his seat, turning around so that he’s now fully facing Simone. “It wasn’t meaningless to me.” He begins, voice soft and assuring which prompts her to lift her head to meet his eyes again. “That night with you was probably one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time and not because of the sex because you were different. You talked to me like I was a person, not some jock or the coach’s son like everyone else does. You ask me about things that no one else does. I feel like I can talk to you, I like talking to you Simone. Ripley and all those other girls, they just like me because of my status. Those were meaningless. You were _never_ that.” 

And something about the way he’s looking at her, never breaking her gaze, his tone firm but still reassuring, let’s her know that he was telling the truth. She feels her heart thrashing against her chest as his words still whirred around her brain. She feels a smothering warmth throng throughout the crevasses of her body, flushing from her cheeks to the tip of her ears when his eyes flickered down to her lips. Her breath hitches, catching in the back of her throat.   
  
“Jordan, I-” But the words die off of her lips. She couldn’t think, couldn’t speak with the way he was looking at her. 

She swallows thickly, her eyes never leaving his as he began to lean closer to her closing the space between them. “Can I?” He murmurs, the wisps of his breath tickle against her face, his lips only inches away from hers. 

Simone nods, probably a little too hasty in her response because Jordan’s chuckling lightly in amusement. His hand reaches up, cradling her face in the palm of his hand. He leans closer, lips grazing against hers ever so softly, then slowly deepening as they succumb to the feel of each other’s wanton lips. Jordan’s tongue raffishly laps over her bottom lip, the sweet taste of ice cream sits on his tongue as he ravenously devoured her in kisses. 

She’s breathless, mind hazy, lips kiss-swollen when they finally part. Jordan’s just as breathless as her; eyes blown wide, skin red and raw around his mouth.

“I like you, Simone. I’ve always liked you,” He admits, softly, pausing a bit as he gauges for her reaction.

“Yeah?”

He nods, a soft smile wans across his lips as he reaches over and strokes his thumb across the plushness of her cheek. “Yeah.” 

**Author's Note:**

> didn’t really like the ending but nonetheless, hope you guys enjoyed!


End file.
